For those of you who might have missed it, there was a first in the White House earlier this month. The first ever Presidential Twitter Press Conference.
Definition – Twitter press conference: followers of social network twitter sent in questions to the White House which followed the trends of questions and picked representative ones that the President responded to in the traditional way of speaking into a microphone. See also town hall, vanilla press conference.
In the growing heat of the debt crisis, little news broke from this new media moment. But there was one startling aspect of this spectacle. No one outside those involved really cared. In fact, most people didn’t seem to even notice.
That says less about the content of the conference itself and more about the lightening shifts in the media that are passing by so quickly. Lest we forget – it was barely 3 years ago that CNN went media rogue and started the new media/TV thing with its YouTube presidential debates. That was new and exciting then. Pioneering journalism that even had a question from a lady dressed as a chicken. Now that was television.
But today – been there, done that.
This year alone, President Obama has already had a Facebook press conference. Missed that? You are not alone.
Remember, this is the President who redefined the presidential campaign process with his “Triple O campaign” – “the Obama Online Operation.” But now it seems to barely count unless you actually declare your presidential candidacy on your webpage or YouTube or whatever. It’s almost retro to actually stand in front of a microphone and say those words.
So wither the politics of media and new media? Who knows. But it does hold perhaps one interesting conundrum. One of the old-new fads is a locational service called FourSquare. The person who online pings from a spot, a Starbucks, a street corner most is known as the Mayor of that location.
So what would it mean if, at some point, the Mayor of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is someone other than the then-sitting president? Makes the Electoral College seem almost quaint.
